Hervey-Jonction

Hervey-Jonction is a wait-for-the-timetable spot, not a turn-up-and-see-something spot. VIA Rail's published schedules put six worthwhile events here per week and nothing else is guaranteed. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays the combined Montreal train arrives at 11:20; train 603 pulls away for Senneterre at 11:30 and train 601 follows for Jonquiere at 11:35, so the whole split is over in fifteen minutes. Southbound the sequence reverses: on Tuesdays and Thursdays train 604 arrives from Senneterre at 15:15, train 600 from Jonquiere at 15:20, and the recoupled train leaves at 15:30; on Sundays trains 606 and 602 do the same at 18:15, 18:20 and 18:30.

A rider's account published on the Confessions of a Train Geek blog describes the Senneterre section pulling into the station, backing out to let the Jonquiere section take the platform ahead of it, then coupling on behind. That is worth knowing before choosing where to stand, because part of the move happens away from the platform.

Arrive at least twenty minutes early. There is no staff, no ticket office and no shelter: VIA's own page calls this a sign post rather than a station and states that the station closed permanently. What you get is a boarding platform beside Chemin Saint-Charles and outdoor long-term parking, both published by VIA, in the middle of a working village. Between events the line is quiet, so bring something to do and treat a passing freight as luck rather than as the reason for the trip.

The junction sits in the forested Mauricie uplands, in the Hervey-Jonction sector of the municipality of Lac-aux-Sables, about 5 km (3.1 mi) from Sainte-Thecle and 16 km (9.9 mi) north of Saint-Tite. Both routes are single track: CN's Lac-Saint-Jean Subdivision runs through the village on a roughly west-southwest to east-northeast alignment, and the La Tuque Subdivision peels away to the west. There is no signal gantry, no catenary and no yard - plain rail, a siding, and one remotely controlled interlocking.

The village wraps around the north side of the tracks: the chapel that the current stop faces, a community centre a couple of hundred metres west, and short residential streets - Rue Veillette, Rue Lavoie, Rue Cote - that run down to the right of way. Beyond the last houses the forest closes in immediately in every direction, and that is what makes the manoeuvre feel strange: two intercity passenger trains dividing in front of a village chapel, with nothing resembling a terminal anywhere in sight.

In autumn the mixed hardwood around the village turns hard. In winter the site is fully exposed - VIA warns travellers here to dress for the weather, because there is nowhere indoors to wait.

Two Canadian National subdivisions meet here, both single main track and both governed by the Occupancy Control System rather than by wayside signals. The Transportation Safety Board describes the Lac-Saint-Jean Subdivision as running from Garneau Yard, Mile 0.0 near Saint-Georges, to Arvida at Mile 203.5, Class 3 track with a maximum authorized speed of 35 mph for passenger trains and 30 mph for freight. The La Tuque Subdivision runs from Cap-Rouge at Mile 0.0 to Fitzpatrick at Mile 125.4; the TSB places a private crossing at Mile 77.2 immediately west of Hervey-Jonction.

The passenger service is VIA Rail's pair of northern Quebec regional trains. Trains 601 (Jonquiere) and 603 (Senneterre) leave Montreal Central Station coupled together at 07:15 and separate here; trains 604 and 600, and on Sundays 606 and 602, combine here for the run south. Railway Age has described each half as an F40PH-2 locomotive, a baggage car and a single coach.

Freight is CN's and it is not timetabled. TSB reports put traffic at about two freight trains and one passenger train per day on the Lac-Saint-Jean Subdivision in 2012, representing close to 8.7 million gross tons a year, and the same order of magnitude on the La Tuque Subdivision in the Hervey area in 2017. A freight is a bonus here, not a plan.

The line through the village runs roughly west-southwest to east-northeast, so the south flank of any train is the lit side for most of the day and the natural place to stand is the village side, to the north. Three public positions cover the whole move.

The VIA boarding platform at 445 Chemin Saint-Charles puts you level with the equipment. A 24-50 mm lens covers a two-car section, and it is the only place to photograph the crew handling the coupling.

The Chemin Saint-Charles level crossing sits about 130 m (430 ft) east-northeast of the platform. From the road shoulder a 70-135 mm lens compresses the two sections into a single frame while both are standing, and it is the position that shows the split as a gap opening between them.

The Rue Auguste-Lagace crossing, about 160 m (525 ft) west-southwest, gives the departure angle: train 603 accelerating away toward La Tuque with the village behind it, best at 100-200 mm.

Northbound events fall at 11:20-11:35, high sun and short shadows. The Tuesday and Thursday southbound coupling at 15:15-15:30 gives lower, warmer light from the west-southwest. The Sunday 18:15-18:30 slot is the best light of the week from late spring to early autumn and is dark by mid-October. Shoot from the road shoulder or the platform only, never from the ballast and never from inside a crossing.

Hervey-Jonction exists because two railways crossed here. The Canadian Northern Railway built north from Montreal toward the Lac-Saint-Jean region, and in 1905 the National Transcontinental Railway laid its main line across it on the way from Quebec City to the West. Both eventually came under Canadian National. The village and its name grew out of that intersection.

The eastern leg of the crossing is gone. The former Transcontinental alignment toward Quebec City stopped being used in 2007 after a century of service, and the VIA stop moved that year from its old site, about 300 m (985 ft) east, to its present position opposite the village chapel. What remains at track level is a T rather than a cross: the Lac-Saint-Jean Subdivision through the village, the La Tuque Subdivision heading west.

A Canadian Northern station building of about 1910 still stands in the village and is entered in Quebec's Repertoire du patrimoine culturel. The register describes a one-and-a-half storey building with a half-hipped roof, gabled dormers and a platform canopy, and calls it the only surviving old station in the MRC de Mekinac. The original station, further south near the Sainte-Thecle boundary, was known as Reed Camp.

Three things set this place apart.

First, the operation. Very few places in North America let you watch a scheduled intercity passenger train divide into two trains bound for different cities, and then, on other days, watch the reverse. VIA Rail has itself described Hervey-Jonction as the place where two trains travelling together from Montreal split, one continuing to Jonquiere and the other to Senneterre. It happens six times a week, in the open, beside a village chapel.

Second, the switching. The Transportation Safety Board noted in 2012 that every switch on the 203.5-mile Lac-Saint-Jean Subdivision is hand-operated except at the remotely controlled interlocking at Hervey. On a subdivision that long, this is the one place where the switches move under remote control, which is precisely why the split happens here and not somewhere else.

Third, the status. VIA's own page states that this is not a station but a sign post, and that the station closed permanently. A scheduled connection between two named intercity services is made every week at a place with no building, no staff and no ticket machine.